Telecommunication cables are ubiquitous and used for distributing all manner of data across vast networks and the use of optical fiber cables is growing rapidly in these networks as larger and larger amounts of data are transmitted. In addition to the increasing data transmission rates, the fiber optic network is being extended closer to the end user which can be a premise, business, or a private residence. These networks are often referred to as fiber to the X (FTTX) networks which can include fiber to the premise (FTTP), fiber to the home (FTTH) and fiber to the antenna (FTTA) networks.
Fiber to the Premise (FTTP) and Fiber to the Home (FTTH) markets are rapidly increasing around the world, and the trend is for smaller, less noticeable products for these networks. Conventional FTTP installations utilize fiber terminals to drop services (to provide service connections) to a small number of premises (i.e., 4-12 premises). These fiber terminals are typically located near an end user in a FTTP network to distribute the final service to the end user. The service connection from the fiber terminal is made to the network interface device (NID), located at the end user using a jacketed drop cable. The NID is a small exterior wall mount box at the end user that serves as a test access point as well as a demarcation point. From the NID, another drop cable is passed into the premises and into an outlet box before being finally routed to an optical network terminal by a length of indoor optical fiber cable.
With the large numbers of homes/premises being passed each year, service providers are looking for more cost effective ways of making the final connection to the customer and elimination of one of the bulky boxes in this last portion of the network would be seen as advantageous. Thus, there is a need for a simple low cost demarcation structure that can be placed outside of a customer premise.